Background
Effectiveness and tolerability of psychiatric medications are not only determined by the drug’s pharmacological profile but
through the interaction of different factors, including patients’ attitudes toward their prescribed medications. Increased
knowledge about those attitudes may help prescribers to improve patient concordance and thereby the effectiveness of the pharmacological
therapy.
Objective
The goal of this study was to assess stable psychiatric outpatients’ attitudes toward psychiatric drug treatment and to what
extent patients and public opinions on this subject diverge as a consequence of being on this type of medication.
Methods
Two anonymous self-reported questionnaires [Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI)-10 and an abridge version of Beliefs about Medicines
Questionnaire (BMQ)] were administered to 270 stable psychiatric outpatients under treatment and 292 citizens naïve to psychotropic
medication.
Results
Psychiatric patients showed a more positive attitude toward medication (DAI score 3.6 vs. −0.7; range −10 to +10; negative
to positive). Up to 77% of patients showed positive scores compared with only 36% in the general population. Multiple regression
analysis showed that none of the variables in the analysis have a predictive value with regard to the attitude toward psychiatric
drugs used.
Conclusion
The continuous use of psychotropic medication shapes the opinion of the users toward a more beneficial perception of medications,
but the opinion on the general population, where stigmatizing attitudes are born, is more negative toward them. For psychiatrists
and their patients, trying to achieve a better understanding of each other’s expectations and reaching concordance is mandatory.
Keywords Attitudes - Psychiatric drugs - Outpatients - General population - Concordance